


An Interesting Catch

by laelreenia



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 13:12:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/711132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laelreenia/pseuds/laelreenia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Done for a fic prompt on tumblr:</p>
<p>Trolls hunt humans for sport and eat them. Tavros hunts a small group of humans in the woods and almost caught up to them. Then he finds human!Gamzee tied to a tree to distract him, the predator, while the others flee. Tavros is pretty upset about the fact the humans use such dirty tactics and decides to take Gamzee with him and kill his friends first, showing them that leaving Gamzee behind wasn't a good thing to do, or at least not useful, even though Gamzee still wants to save his friends. Gamzee is wary and very scared at first expecting to be killed any second, but every reassurance from Tavros that he doesn't intend to kill him at the moment, Gam feels more presssure come off him. Relieved as he is he tries to befriend the awkward and small, but definitely dangerous predator, even though he is fully aware of how stupid of an idea that is. (Gam is scared to death probably develops stockholm syndrome since his friends sacrificed him and he can't depend on anyone anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Interesting Catch

Tavros sat, crouched in the underbrush, there was a party of humans in a clearing just ahead. He had been chasing them for a while, and finally allowed them to think that they had given him the slip, before he went in for the kill. He heard them moving about, along with muffled swearing, he waited until the voices abated before moving stealthily through the underbrush, despite his large horns.

   Reaching the clearing Tavros found, as he had expected, the humans to have run off. He did not, however expect to find one of them gagged and tied to a tree, feet not touching the ground. Tavros scowled, were these humans really so vile as to leave one of their own as a sacrfice in hopes that it would appease him? Apparently so. Tavros slowly approached the young man tied to the tree, he could see him struggling, eyes wide and full of fear, tears leaking from his eyes, leaving trails down his cheeks. He gave a muffled cry against the dirty strip of cloth tied in his mouth as a gag.

   The scent of fear in clearing was overwhelming, it was raw, tangy, and bitter. It wasn't the sweat scent of fear mixed with adrenaline, that Tavros loved, but  the dark bitter fear of someone who has been brutally betrayed by those close to him.

   “Why would your friends do this to you?” Tavros mused aloud, “That doesn't seem like something a, friend, would do now does it?”

   The human tied to the tree gave a muffled sob from behind the gag, followed by incoherent mumbling.

   Tavros sighed, looking at the quaking human. To be honest, he felt rather bad for the young man. Scanning up and down the man's body, Tavros noticed how raw his arms looked from the tight bounds that held him to the tree. It was then that he decided to spare this human. However, it wasn't going to stop him from hunting down the rest.

   Tavros turned on his heel an left the clearing, bent on finding the vile group of humans and killing them, before he dealt with the young man they had left for bait. He was curious, and didn't want to come back to find the human had run away.

   Finding the band of humans was easy, killing them was easier. Tavros scroffed, kicking one of the bodies, they were all so scrawny, not even worth bringing back to eat. Maybe something else would want to eat them, there were plenty of other creatures in the forest. They weren't worth eating, they were no better than animals.

   After making sure that the humans were truly dead, Tavros headed back to the clearing, to free the human.

   Tavros did a quick sweep of the clearing, to make sure no other creatures were nearby, before making quick work of the gag and the ropes holding up the human.

   The human landed awkwardly, holding on to the tree for support. He was still shaking, visibly terrified. However, as he turned to run from the troll, his right leg gave out and he fell, letting out a small cry of pain.

   Tavros knelt down next to the fallen human, who tried to shift away from the troll, but only succeeded in backing himself up against the tree.

   The human clutched at his thigh, and Tavros noticed that the human's pants were wet with blood. Tavros reached out a clawed hand towards the human.

\---  
Pov Change, Gamzee

   Gamzee pressed his hand against the wound on his leg, it was worse than he had initially thought, that must have been their plan, so that even if he was cut down, he wouldn't be able to escape. His own brother, had left him, to be killed by this monster. He had trusted him, and he had- The troll reached out towards him and Gamzee squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering. He didn't want to die.

   “I-I'm not gonna hurt you...”

   Gamzee opened his eyes, the troll had withdrawn his hand and was crouched back on his haunches worrying his lip between very sharp teeth. He was gangly and more awkward looking than other trolls he had seen, but with foot long horns and pointed teeth, he looked no less intimidating.

   Gamzee tried to pull his injured leg up against himself, but all it did was make the injury hurt more. Hissing in pain, he lowered his leg back down.

   The troll slowly made to reach out again, and Gamzee tensed, this was a troll, not a human, not someone he could trust. Not that trusting humans had got him very far.

   “I-I'm not gonna hurt you,” The troll said again, stammering a little.

   Gamzee's heart was racing and he started shaking all over again as the troll reached out, removing Gamzee's hand from over the wound. Very carefully, the troll hooked the fabric of Gamzee's pants, making a tear big enough for him to see the wound on the human's leg.

   Gamzee felt something wet slide down his cheek, and it took him a moment to register through his fear that he was crying. ”P-please...” he begged, “I don't wanna die.”

   The troll prodded gently at the wound on Gamzee's leg, causing Gamzee to wince and pull his leg away, despite the pain.

   “I, uh, I'm not gonna hurt you,” The troll repeated for a third time, ”uh, I'm Tavros.”

   Gamzee blinked, the troll had just... given him his name? What was... Could he trust him? Just a little bit?

   “G-Gamzee, I'm Gamzee...” he replied, voice scratchy from screaming against the gag.

\---  
POV change omniscient

   Tavros grinned, flashing pointed teeth, “Okay,” he paused, “uh, I'm gonna take you back to my hive... uh, so we can fix your leg...”

   Gamzee swallowed, his mind was screaming at him not to trust this troll, everything he knew, the person he thought cared for him the most, left him for friends, and probably... Gamzee's eyes widened, suddenly wondering if when the troll had left earlier... Had he killed them?

   Tavros shifted around Gamzee, so he could lift him. For as gangly as he looked he was surprisingly strong. Not that Gamzee weighed a lot to begin with...

   Tavros moved swiftly and carefully on the way back to his hive. What he was doing was risky and very, very, dangerous, if they were seen by another troll, they would both be culled. Gamzee for being a human, and Tavros for helping him.

   When they reached Tavros' hive, Tavros brought Gamzee in the back way, very glad that there was nothing but forest behind his hive.

   He carried Gamzee into his respite block, gently setting him down in the nest of blankets he had set up in the corner. “Uh, here, I'll uh, be right back...”

   Gamzee shifted around in the blanket pile trying to get comfortable, the blankets were nice and soft, Gamzee had to admit that. He looked around the room, there were these odd red and yellow plushies strewn everywhere, some appeared to be torn open, while others were still intact, there were also these balls, stacked in a pile next to a group of the plushies. There were a few posters on the walls, and a small white fairy bull like creature was asleep on the desk, next to the trolls computer.

   Gamzee watch transfixed, as the small wings fluttered, and the little bull yawned, getting to it's feet. It sniffed around, as if knowing something was different, before flapping it's little wings, and flying over to where Gamzee was lying in the blankets.

   The small critter let out a soft ‘cree’ fluttering down to land on Gamzee's lap. Gamzee looked at the little creature confused, he had never seen anything like it before. It was so small and sweet, he tentatively ran a hand down the creatures snow white back, it was coarse but fine, a nice texture. The little bull rubbed against Gamzee's hand letting out a pleased rumble.

   Tavros returned, with an armful of medical supplies, he grinned seeing his lusus curled up on Gamzee's lap. He wasn't sure what was so special about this human, but since his lusus was okay with Gamzee, Tavros was sure he had made the right decision to rescue the human.

   “My lusus seems to like you,” Tavros said, kneeling down next to the human. “Tinkerbull won't even let Vriska get near him.”

   “That's his name?” Gamzee asked, gently stroking the creature nestled on his lap.

   “Yup,” Tavros grinned, as he picked up the small creature from Gamzee's lap. He set Tinkerbull on the floor so he could begin cleaning the wound on Gamzee's leg.

   Hooking a claw in the tear he had made earlier in Gamzee's pants, Tavros tore the pant leg the rest of the way off.

   Gamzee swallowed heavily, watching Tavros' every move not trusting the troll at all, “What are you doing?”

   “Cleaning your wound,” Tavros explained, “Oh, uh, sorry about your pants,” he added as an after thought, as he started to spread salve on the injury. It wasn't too deep, and it had stopped bleeding for the most part.

   Gamzee hissed in pain, whatever Tavros had put on the wound stung.

   “Oops. I probably should have warned you...” Tavros muttered, by way of an apology.

   After binding the wound on Gamzee's leg, Tavros took hold of one of Gamzee's arms. The human flinched starting to worry that he would be tied up again.

   Tavros frowned. As much as he wanted Gamzee to trust him, the human had every reason not to. And, unfortunately, most of those reasons, if not all of them, were justifiable.

   Tavros had just finished putting salve on the rope burns on Gamzee's; and was starting to bandage them when Gamzee spoke.

   “You killed them didn't you,” he murmured as he lifted his arms to make it easier for Tavros to bandage them.

   “Yes I did,” Tavros stated, probably more bluntly than he should have.

   “Oh,” Gamzee felt a knot tighten in his stomach, “All of them?”

   Tavros finished bandaging Gamzee's arms before he replied, “Uh, yeah, I think, unless one got away, I didn't really keep track of how many there were.“

   “Did-did one of them, have their lips stiched shut?” Gamzee asked his tentatively his body tense, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

   When Tavros nodded in confirmation, Gamzee felt a wave of relief wash over him and he let him self relax into the blankets, “It was his idea to leave me…” Gamzee confided softly.

Tavros opened his mouth in a silent 'oh', “Is it, a, uh, good thing that I killed him then?” the troll asked hesitantly.

Gamzee shrugged. “He wasn't the nicest of guys. I felt obligated to stay with him because he was my brother, ya know?”

Tavros didn't, but he nodded anyways, “You can stay here if you want, it'll be, maybe, at least a little safer, than out in the forest.”

“Oh, thanks, I guess…” Gamzee trailed off, he wasn't sure why the troll was helping him, but if it kept him safer than he was before, he wasn't going to turn it down.

Days passed, turning to weeks which in turn, turned to months, and Gamzee found himself getting more and more comfortable around Tavros, and Tavros, in turn, found himself greatly enjoying Gamzee's company.

One evening as Gamzee was making dinner, Tavros received a call on his mobile. As it was one of Tavros' troll friends, he had gone outside to take the call. Tavros had finished the call and closed the mobile device when a group of humans stumbled out of the woods. Gamzee swallowed heavily, as he watched Tavros pocket the phone and take a step towards the group of humans. There were several cries of terror from the humans as they scrambled back into the shelter of the forest. Gamzee squeezed his eyes shut, he didn't want to see Tavros chase after them. His eyes shot open, however, when the hive door swung open and Tavros came back inside.

"You let them go!” Gamzee exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah,” Tavros replied, “I, uh, haven't actually hunted humans since I met you.”

“Shit man, that's sweet,” Gamzee was feeling on top of the world, or pretty close at any rate.

“So, uh, I have some less than stellar news,” Tavros admitted nervously.

Gamzee's good mood vanished, “I-I have to leave, don't I.” He gave a half-hearted chuckled, “I knew this whole motherfuckin' situation was too good to last. I can all up and be gone by morning.”

“N-NO!” Tavros exclaimed, Gamzee leaving was the last thing the brown blood wanted. “I just, a friend of mine is coming over to visit, and he can't, know you're here.”

“I can, I dunno, maybe, chill in the woods or somthin'” Gamzee suggested with a shrug, the worry of having to leave lifted. He had grown rather attached to himself, maybe more attached than was healthy.

“Yeah!” Tavros chirped in agreement, “and you can take Tinkerbull and I'll can tell Sollux that Tinkerbull went hunting!”

The following day Gamzee and Tinkerbull left just before dusk, giving Tavros a chance to clean and hide any leftover traces of Gamzee living with him. 

When Tavros finished cleaning he sat down an put Pupa Pan in to entertain himself while he waited for Sollux. He was just about halfway through the movie when there was a knock at the door. Turning off the viewing screen, Tavros got up to let Sollux in. 

“Hey Tavroth,” Sollux greeted cheerfully.

“Hey, uh, come on in,” Tavros replied stepping to the side so Sollux could enter.

“Wow, your hive ith really clean,” Sollux commented, normally Tavros hive was a disaster.

Tavros laughed nervously, “Yeah, uh, I made a bit of a mess last night, turned out the human I'd brought home, uh, wasn't quite dead.”

Sollux laughed, “I know how that goeth. That'th happened to me more than onthe."

Moving up to Tavros' respite block Sollux found the scent of human getting stronger and stronger. ‘It smells more like Tavros has a human living with him,’ Sollux thought to himself, ‘Vriska should probably know about this.’

Vriska was interested in being Tavros' matesprit, and hated anything that could be competition. And as Vriska and Tavros' auspictice , Sollux felt that Vriska should know about his suspicions.

Sollux and Tavros finished watching what was left of Pupa Pan, and then put in ‘In which the protagonist is trapped on an island after an airship crash and has to live there alone with only a volleyball for a friend until he builds a makeshift raft and tries to escape, in doing so he loses the volleyball but is rescued and returns to his hive only to find that his matesprit, thinking him dead, had found someone else.’ 

When the movie ended, Tavros walked Sollux to the door.

“I'll thee you around, I gueth,” Sollux said.

“Uh, yeah,” Tavros nodded, “Uh, say his to Aradia for me, it's been a while since I've seen her.”

“Thure thing,” Sollux replied, that was where he was headed next. Visiting Tavros had only been a short stop on Sollux's way to visit his matesprit.

Once Tavros had closed the door to his hive, Sollux pulled out his mobile device and shot a message to Vriska on Trollian.

\--twinArmaggedons began trolling arachnidsGrip--

TA: ii thiink Tavro2 ha2 a human liiviing wiith hiim.  
AG: WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!  
TA: well ii diidn't 2ee anythiing but hii2 whole hiive reeked of human.  
AG: Well, it looks like I'll 8e paying a certain brown blood a little vis8.

 

The following night found Gamzee and Tavros in the middle of a (rather awful) slam poetry session, when Vriska knocked on the door.

“Were you expecting someone?” Gamzee whispered in a panic. 

Tavros shook his head, “Just get in the supply block and don't make a sound.”

Gamzee nodded, hurriedly, moving to hide in the supply block, or closet as he would call it, in the hall.

Tavros was shocked and mildly horrified to find, that it was Vriska, who was paying him a surprise visit.

“Uh, hey, Vriska, what brings you here…”

“Well, my little lowblood, a little chirpbeast to me that you had a human, living with you,” Vriska said, grinning maliciously, “Imagine that.”

“Well, uh, that chirpbeast was obviously mistaken, cause there's no human here. I m-mean, they taste good and all, but, uh, I wouldn't keep one as a pet." Tavros stammered out, hoping that Vriska wouldn't see through the lie.

“Well, I'm very much relieved to hear that, see you around Toreadork,” With that, Vriska turned on her heel and left. 

 

It was a month, with no word from Vriska, before Tavros felt safe leaving Gamzee alone in the hive, which was exactly, what Vriska was waiting for.

“I won't be gone long,” Tavros reassured Gamzee.

“Don't worry 'bout me, spider chick hasn't done nothin' in a month hey would she do something now? I'll be fine Tavbro,” Gamzee said, grinning.

“I guess that's true,” Tavros admitted, “But I'll be quick anyways.”

“Alright man, I'll be waitin' for ya,” Gamzee said, shooing Tavros out the door feeling confident that he would be completely fine. 

When Tavros was out of sight Vriska emerged from her hiding place, her Mindfang sword strapped to her hip and a lock pick in her hand. 

It didn't take her long to pick the lock on Tavros' door. It was a dreadfully simple lock, and he only had one, as opposed to Vriska's door, which boasted eight locks of varying complexity.

Upon hearing the door open, Gamzee headed back to the entry hall, think Tavros had come back for something, “Did you-” Gamzee's eyes widened, the troll standing in the doorway was most definitely not Tavros.

The female troll cackled, “I knew he was lying,” she crowed, “Oh where are my manners, I'm Vriska Serket. Tavros' future matesprit,” she continued, unsheathing her sword.

Seeing the troll, unsheathe here sword, broke Gamzee out of his stupor, and he ran. He ran up to Tavros' respite block, and barricaded the door with everything he could find. Looking around for a weapon, Gamzee picked up one of Tavros' lances, it was awkward, but he didn't have his clubs. No, Kurloz had taken those when he had left Gamzee tied to the tree all those months ago.

“Oh no,” Vriska mocked from outside the door, ”It's blocked, whatever shall I do?”

With a roll of her dice, Vriska blasted the door open and she entered the room, stepping over the rubbled of the door and the various pieces of furniture that had been propped behind it.

Gamzee hefted up the lance, shaking in fear, but determined to defend himself.

“Oh, you're gonna put up a fight?” Vriska grinned, “I love it when humans put up a fight."

Gamzee charged forward like he had seen Tavros do while practicing. However, Vriska was faster than he was. Grabbing the lance and wrenching it from Gamzee's grip, before she slid her sword into Gamzee's gut in one fluid motion. 

“Tavros is mine, human,” Vriska snarled, wrenching the blade roughly from Gamzee's body, making the wound worse.

Gamzee let out a choked gasp, clutching at the gaping hole in his stomach as he collapsed, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

Vriska laughed, coldly, “Give Tavros my regards,” she snickered again, “If you're still alive when he gets back.”

With that, Vriska left, leaving Gamzee, laying on the floor in a growing pool of blood.

 

True to his word Tavros wasn't gone very long arriving back at his hive, no more than five minutes after Vriska had left. As he approached his hive, Tavros noticed that something was definitely amiss. For one thing, his door was unlocked, he had been 100% sure that he had locked it, because he had been worried about Gamzee. Oh, god. Gamzee. Tavros dropped the cluckbeast he had caught, and ran inside.

“Gamzee?!” Tavros called out, panicking, when there was no response.

Tavros ran up the steps to his respite block,ver afraid of what he would find. Reaching the landing Tavros gasped seeing his door in pieces on the floor, the door frame blackened by scorch marks.

“Gamzee? GAMZEE!” Tavros cried out, seeing the human lying motionless on the floor, in a dark pool of blood. Tavros rushed to Gamzee's side falling to his knees next to him, “Oh god.”

Tavros felt tears welling up in his eyes as he drew Gamzee into his lap, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. 

Gamzee winced, “Shit, Tav-” he coughed, blood bubbling from his lips.

“Y-you're gonna be okay,” Tavros hiccuped, large translucent brown tears dripping down his face, and onto Gamzee's blood stained shirt.

Gamzee shook his head, “Tav I-”

“D-Don't,” Tavros hushed, him, “You're gonna be okay." 

“I'm not,” Gamzee choked out, giving Tavros a sad smile.

“NO! Don't-don't say that!” Tavros cried, tears starting to fall faster down his cheeks.

“I love you,” Gamzee said softly, and Tavros started sobbing.

“I-I-I'm f-flushed f-for you too…” Tavros choked out between sobs.

Gamzee reached out a trembling hand to wipe the tears away from Tavros' cheek. The troll caught Gamzee's hand in his, holding the human's pink hand against the grey skin of Tavros' cheek.

Tavros shifted slight, causing Gamzee to whine in pain, “I'm sorry,” Tavros whimpered, the last thing he wanted to do was cause Gamzee anymore pain.

Gamzee gave Tavros a pained smile, whispering, ‘I love you,’ one more time before his breathing shuddered to a halt.

Tavros let out an anguished wail, clutching Gamzee's bloody body tightly to his chest. It took Tavros some minutes to collect himself. 

Laying Gamzee's cooling body on the floor, Tavros grabbed his lance and, still covered in Gamzee's blood, went to seek out Vriska. She would pay dearly for killing Gamzee.

It didn't take Tavros long to find Vriska. She had returned to her hive, where Tavros had been on more than one occasion. 

“Vriska open up!” Tavros shouted, banging on the door to Vriska's hive, leaving smears of bright red blood on the wood.

Vriska opened the door, a wicked grin on her face, “Why Tavros, you didn't st-st-stutter at all.”

“Don't mock me Vriska, you know why I'm here,” Tavros growled.

“Oh yes, the human,” Vriska said, dragging out the word, ‘human’. “I was merely doing you a favor, I don't know how on earth he got into your hive. You must have a really lousy lock on your door."

Tavros raised his lance swiftly so the tip was pressed, threateningly against Vriska's throat, “That human was my matesprit!”

“Your matesprit?" Vriska crowed, not taking Tavros' threat seriously in the slightest, “You really are pathetic Tavros.”

Tavros didn't waste any time drawing back his lance and ramming it straight through Vriska's chest, splattering Tavros' face with Vriska's cerulean blood.

Vriska's eyes widened as Tavros yanked the lance out of her chest. She was dead before she hit the ground.

“Good riddance,” Tavros hissed, spitting on Vriska's body before making his own hive, and Gamzee's body.

 

Tavros buried Gamzee under a small tree in the yard behind his hive. As sweeps passed you could often find Tavros sitting in the grass beneath the tree. Even after he joined the cavalreapers, Tavros always made time to come back and visit. But for all the sweeps he lived, he never did take another matesprit.

**Author's Note:**

> I really need to stop killing Gamzee. Oh, can anyone tell me what movie Sollux and Tavros watched?


End file.
